Uncoupling device for car couplers



Oct. 19 1926.

- 1,603,275 a. G. GlLRlN UNCOUPLING DEVICE FOR CAR COUPLERS Filed July21, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I Inventor Garlfi 0.01 m

Fig-4 Ji -031px and comprises a Patented Oct. 19,, 1926.

recalls Ga e G. GILIIN; OF RIVERSID r nL-nvorsjassrenonfroUnroiv'finrriii. PRODU TS COMPANY, or oHIo qo, ILLINOIS,

A CORPORATION or DELAWARE,

UNCOUPLING nn vrcln :eon oancournnns,

Application filed rui 'ei,

This particular invention relates to what is generally known'in the artas a rotating type of uncoupling device for car' couplers n operatingrod revolubly mounted on the car with brackets or. in any otherconvenient manner,'w.h1ch rod is usually bent downwardly at the outerend to form a handle, and is bent outwardly at its inner endto form acrank, projecting. over the coupler. whichycrank :isprovided "with ahorizontally positioned eye over the coupler lock lifter. e standardvertical plane coupler has a knuckle" pivoted to the coupler head andprovidedwith a tail behind which the lock is placed, The lock lifterprotrudes through and above the coup'--"v ler heada nd is provided witha horizontally,

positioned eye. This lock lifter eye is- 1 in diameter and its axis isperpen-y diciilar to the longitudinal center of the car. This sizeandpositionhas been determined bythe American Railroad Association and;is standardforthe majority of couplers" now 'in service. 7 I

My invention resides in the connection between the eyeon the crank ofthe operating rod and the eye onthe coupler lock, lifter. When thehandle is raised the rod is revolved and the, crank is thereby raisedwhich unlocks the coupler by raising the lockt'lifter. I v The couplermoves backwardly, and forwardly longitudinally of the car in bufling anddraft and also moves sidewise in rounding curves, etc.,andltheconnection between the coupler and the operating rod must permit suchmovements without the compo k nent parts becoming disengaged fromfeachother or from either thecoupler or the op-" erating rod. It isfrequentlynecessary to uncouple cars when they are coupled to gether andin contact so that it is impossible; to throwthe knuckle of eithercouplen' To meet this condition couplersfare designed toassume a lockset position wherein the lock lifter can be raised from behindthe,

tail of the knuckle and retained in. such a position by means withinthe'head of the coupler independent of the operating rod;- This; allowsthe operating rod to fall-close tothe lock lifter, (See Fig, 3;) A-torsional strain isexerted on the horizontal portion of operating rod 9 bythe movemen-o (if-handle 12beingresisted by the; coupler partsfailing tooperate, thu's pr'eventing'the 1924. Serial No. 727,207.

crank arm .13 from moving upwardlyj This" torsional distortion altersthe relation"between"theih'andle '9 and the crank arm 13 and permits thecrankarm and theconnector to assume the relativepositions shown in Fig.4. This is anfactual service condition which must be considered Toaccommod-ate such a movement the c'onnectio'nbe' tween the operating rodcrank and the coup ler must fore-shorten, which is accomplished bymaking it of several parts whichcollapse ymeansof ahingejoint ortelescope each other, or .as in my; design; the component parts arepivotally andY telescopically connected. The operating rod, as abovedescribed, is old and in use on hundreds-of thousands of cars nowin'existencel Such rods had a short-chainconnectingthe'crank' arm to thelock lifter of'the coupler which chains proved unsatisfactory anol'wereresponsible for; a little more than half of thedefects for uncouplingmechanisms reported by the Interstate Commerce Com- .Inission, Thesechains were defective because they were broken, missing,

ki nked I and either toolong ortoo' short.

One ofthe' objects. of this invention is to 1 provide a connectionbetween the rod and the I coupler which will eliminate the defects tionsrequired,

vof the old chain-and meet-all service condi'f These short chains werebroken ,by falling behind the coupler horn and being smashed between thecoupler horn and the striking casting by impact ofth'e cars in coupling.The'device is designed so that the component parts cannotbecomedi's'connected from each other or from the operating lever on thecoupler}; The connection between the coin ponent parts and also their;connections'to the operating rod and the coupler are such that thedevice cannot; become 'kinked.

v. Formerly when afbrakem an wanted a small chain to "rep'air'one ofthjeold connect-ions he simply guessed as to theamount of chain 7 car,which a'crequired v and applied it mule counts-forth'e' number'o'f-j'too long and toosh'ort? chains reported by the -Colm'mission; This isnot possible with my device.

Another object "is to provide a connection which maybe hooked intothefieye of the couplerlock li'fter with". the hooked member i 7connected to the, crank-for the operating rodby another member whichpermits itto ada t I itself tothevariousservice -movements ott e couplerbut prevents it from becoming disengaged from the lock lifter inservice.

Anotherobj-ectof theinvention is to provide a device wherein some of thecomponent parts are duplicates, therefore, interchangeable. Duplication,of course, also simplifies manufacture, handling, account ing, etc.

Another object of the invention is toprovide a device which. can beassembled at the point of manufacture and shipped as a unit tothe pointof application to a car and which can be applied to the car by a verysimple operation which requires no special tools or appliances. 7

Another object is to obtain a device wherein the component parts areduplicates so that they cannot be wrongfully applied to the car ortoeach other.

In the drawings Fig. 1 is a perspective view of portion of a car with myinvention applied thereon.

-Fig. 2 is a cross'section along line 22 of Fig. 1 showing the device infull lines in normal position and in dotted lines in an elevatedposition.

Fig. 3 is a section along line 2-2 of Fig. 1 showing the device with thecoupler in look set position.

Fig. 4 is a section along line 22 of Fig. 1 showing the device whereinthe operating rod crank arm is 'allowed'to fall close to thelock'lifter.

Figs. 5 and 6 are an enlarged side and front elevation respectively ofthe device assembled with the operating rod crank and coupler.

Figs. 7 and 8 are a detail side and front elevation of the hook member.

Figs. 9 and lO'show one ofthe bars in detail.

Figs. 11 and 12 show one of the pivots in detail.

Fig. 13 is an enlarged side elevation of a modified design in assembledrelation.

Fig. 14 is an enlarged front elevation of a modified design in assembledrelation.

Figs. 15 and 16 show the'bars of the modified design in detail.

The usual parts of the car are shown wherein 1 is the end sill; 2 thepush pole pocket; 3 the striking casting; tthe carry iron; 5 thecoupler; 6 the coupler knuckle; 7 the knuckle pivot; 8 the lock lifterand 15 the lock lifter eye. 1

A red 9 is revolublymounted in brackets 10 and ll which are secured toany convenient part of the car. The rod 9 is bent downwardly at theouter end to form handle 12 and bent laterally at the inner end to formthe crank 13 which is provided with a horizontally disposed eye 14. Thisform of operating rod was formerly a universal standard-and is thereforeon hundreds of thousands of cars now in service. The eye which bars arevpivoted at their upperends.

to the crank arm at 21 by means extending through the crank arm eye.

The pivotal joint 22 between the pair of bars 19-20 and the-hook member16 provides a hinge action so that the component parts of the connectormay collapse to allow the crank toreturnto normal position when thecoupler is in look set position. (This is shown in Fig. 3.) The bars arespaced far enough apart to permit the hookto adapt itself to the lateralmovement of the coupler without binding or bendingjthe parts. The lowerends of the bars are extended downwardly at 232-t to limit. or

restrict the lateral swing of the hook meme ber 16 relative to the bars19-20 so that the hook cannot swing far enough to either side to bedisengaged from the lock lifter eye when the device is assembled on acar. The pivot member 25 is substantially the same diameter as thehorizontal width of the eye 18 so that the hook member cannot rotatesufficiently on its longitudinal axis to permit disengagement from thelock lifter eye.

The eye 18 may be elongated vertically to provide a telescopic movementbetween the component parts.

Another object of this telescopic arrangement and the hinge arrangementis so that the device may be applied to different cars wherein there arevarying vertical distances between the crank eye and the lock liftereye.

The pivotal joint 21 between the bars 19-20 and the crank arm 13 allowsfor the fore and aft movement of the coupler in service. The hookconnection between the device and the lock lifter eye also permits thefore and aft movement of the coupler.

The device is assembled at the point of manufacture by peening orriveting over both ends 2627 ofpivot 25 after the hook member 16 and thetwo bars have. been assembled. One end of the pivot (27 is not tightenedso that the bar 20 can assume an oblique position, as shown by dottedlines in The upper pivot 28 is placed in the upper hole 29 of one of theconnectingrods and eened-or riveted over (30) but the other end (31) ofthis pivot remains normal.

Fig. 6, or can rotate around pivot 25..

15 of the lock The device is sent to point of installation in thiscondition. In applying the device to the car the hook is insertedthrough the eye of the lock litter and thenjtheuppcr pivot 1 28 isinserted through the eye 14 of the crank arm andrthen the end 31 of thepivot 28 is inserted through the upper hole 32 of the loose connectingrod 20 and the installa-' tion is completed by merely peeni ng orriveting over the end 3l of the pivot.

It will benoted that'the line of thrust.

with one of the. connecting rods 51, and,

' furthermore, the two connecting. rods 51-52 (with. their integralpivots) are duplicates.

In assembling the device the ends 53 and 54 are bent over, as shown inFig. 14;.

I cla1m:

1. A connector for a railway car coupler operating rod crank arm havinga horizontally disposed eye and a coupler lock lifter having ahorizontally disposed eye, said connector comprising a pair of barsarranged to be disposed on the opposite sides of the crank arm andpivoted thereto through the crank eye, and a hook arranged to beoperatively connected to the lock lifter eye at its lower end and havingan eye at its upper end pivotally, substantially non-rotatively andlaterallyswingingly connected to said bars.

2. A connector for a railway car coupler operating rod crank arm havinga horizontally disposed eye and a coupler lock lifter having ahorizontally disposed eye, said conncctor comprising a pair of barsarranged to be disposedon the opposite sides of the crank arm andpivoted thereto through the crank eye, and a hookarranged to beoperatively connected to the lock lifter eye'at its lower end and havingan elongateoleye at its upper end pivotally, substantially non-'rotatively and restrictively laterally swing-' ingly connected to saidbars. 3. .A connector for arailway car coupler operating rod crank armhaving a horizontally disposed eye and a coupler lock lifter having ahorizontally disposed eye, said conncctor comprising a pair ofbarsarranged to be disposed onthe opposite sides of the crank arm andpivoted thereto; through the its lower end hand having its upper endpivotally, substantially non-rotatively and restrictively laterallyswingingly connected" to said bars. 7 I

[4. A connector for a railway car coupler operatmg rodcrank arm having ahorizoncrank eye, and a hook arranged tobe opera;v tively connected tothe lock lifter eye at f tally'disposed eye and a coupler lock lifterhaving a horizontally disposed eye, said con ncctor comprising a pair ofbars arranged to be disposed on the opposite sides of the crank arm andpivoted thereto throughthe crank eye, and a hook'arranged to be operatively connected to the lock lifter eye at its lower end and having aneye at'its upper end substantially non-rotatively connected.

to'said bars.

5. Aconnector tor a railway car coupler operating rod crank arm having al1OITlZOI1- tally disposed'eye and a couplerlocklifter.

. having a horizontally disposed eye, said con nector comprising a pairof'bars-arranged to be: disposed onthe opposite sides of the crankarmand pivoted thereto through the icrankeye, and an open hook arranged tobe operatively connected to the lock lifter eye at its lower end andhaving a single elonrotatively connected between said bars.

6. Aconnector for a railway car coupler operating rod'crank arm ha-vinga horizontally disposed eye anda coupler lock lifter having a[horizontally disposed eye, said connector comprising a pair of barsarranged to be disposed on the opposite sides of the crank arm andpivoted, thereto through the crank eye, and an open hook argated eye atits upper end substantially nonranged to be operatively connected-to thelook lifter eye at its lower end and having connected between saidbar's. v

7 A connector for a railway carcoupler operating rod crank arm having ahorizontally disposed eye, and a coupler lock lifter its upper endsubstantially non-rotatively V having a horizontally disposed eye, saidconnector comprising a hook operativelyengaging the lock lifter eye atits lower end,

and provided with an eye at its upper end, a pivot extending through theeye of the said hook, another pivot extending through the eye of theoperating rod crank, and a pair of duplicate bars connecting theopposite ends of said pivots. I v '8.'.A connectorfor a railway carcoupler and its operating grod, said connector comprising a pair ofspaced apart bars and "a hook member, 'said'hook memberpivotally,

substantially non-rotatively and restrictively laterally swinginglyconnected, to and betweensaid bars.

GARTH G. GILrmQ

